JOetaiji
Taiji - So, why is it important to attend two classes per week?
By Joe Harte.
When starting out one may initially be sceptical and assume it's for more money by greedy instructors.
But, actually for my classes, I structure the charges so people pay less per class the more they train.
Beyond that, it becomes clear that regular attendance greatly aids learning and remembering the moves of the Form and the 5 Loosening exercises, which for everyone is the beginning steps of the journey, where we all start.It also allows the class to move at a pace that suits beginners and the more experienced alike. It's best to think of it like learning a new language or musical instrument, where just once a week leads to lack of progress, stagnation, and eventually people just give up.
Regular attendance allows the new moves, information, explanations and Taiji principles to wash over you. Even if at that point it may not be too well understood, it's a profoundly deep art, and we are in fact sowing the seeds of deeper understanding right from the very first class.Beyond that again, there is a profound, largely unseen, cumulative effect from regular training and the group energy created in a class, contributed to significantly by the longer trained students and the teacher. This group energy helps to pull newer people into a deeper state than they would otherwise manage on their own. It's a major benefit of group classes, as opposed to online lessons.
Master Huang Xingxian, my teachers teacher, and the founder of our system, said people were like baked potatoes taking a long time of cooking to soften right through to the centre!So, our classes are designed to help people build a growing inner strength and resilience against the pressures of a rough outer world. You should come and try a genuine, authentic lineage, Taiji class with a long trained teacher.
Taiji on one level is about balancing oneself energetically, unifying the three Dan Tiens, or centres of intelligence. It's less about accumulation and more about letting go of the layers of habitual behavior and responses through 'investing in loss' as GM Cheng Man Ching said. Balance and inner refinement is what we aim for, something of deep meaning aimed towards connection with our spirit.
Don't be fooled by the Taiji of the health studios, or shiny suited WuShu, with robes, top knots and silk suits, or the purely martially orientated schools where all esoteric aims are scorned. Once you've been to watch one of our full classes to see what we do, asked your questions, and seen what the teacher and students are like, then come along for a few classes for a month as a 'pay as you go' visitor, then your inner being will know. After that come twice a week and with gentle persistence transform yourself.
At every class we close down the superficial mind to pause the demands of external life to direct our will and energy inwards. The constant pressures of an external rough world will overrun us if not careful. So, make time to invest in yourself. Of the 7 days a week, 24 hours a day, we have roughly 112 waking hours (18hrs x 7days) that are available to us each week. So ask yourself is (2x1.5hrs) 3 hours really too much to be able to spare on your inner development. Ask yourself that question and make your decision.
Taiji awaits your immersion into it's transforming energies.